I've got a pair of really nice Chrysler Hemi valve covers that I was thinking of getting chromed, I called around the Portland and Seattle area to some of the chrome shops and was quoted between $500 to $750 each, not the pair, to have chromed. I found these online for $498.00 for the pair made in USA. Brand new and polished. Guess what direction I'm going. https://www.ebay.com/itm/2365412208...WaWnQJ6lB8b8rlHk%3D|ampid:PLP_CLK|clp:2332490
Seems like an easy decision to make, personally I like the aluminum ones better anyway. I also think they seal better. Pat
I used to work in a chrome shop and valve covers with writing on them (we called them "script" covers) were one of the most difficult pieces to chrome plate properly. The sanding and buffing process around the lettering takes an incredible amount of time, even with very clean cores, it's very easy to lose some of the definition of the lettering. Also, any baffles have to be removed, you can't risk any contaminants getting in the plating tank that might be trapped behind, although I don't know if the Chrysler covers have any or not.
The price that you expect to be quoted on your chrome will be 5x that number. Also, a chrome shop will take 6 months to get the job done. And chrome platers are becoming as rare as black and white televisions. It's life and it cost lots of money for them to stay open. Do they make a lot of money? Absolutely not.
Years ago it was rumored we could take the job to Canada for a much better price. Might be worth checking to see if there's any truth to that.
Chrome has gone through the roof, I got a quote to have the center bullet on the '54 Ranch Wagon rechromed,the replacement is not as nice as the one that was damaged in the accident but the chrome is dull from weathering. I got 2 bids for having the bullet rechromed, the qoutes were between 850.00 & 1,200.00, I'm just going to use the piece as is. HRP
I've got Ansen valve covers on a few FEs. Awesome company and extremely nice.....you can find places that do chrome for cheap. But it's been my experience when I've gone that way that you get what you pay for.
The City, State, and Fed regulations covering the chemicals, and the processes, involved with chrome plating, for mixing, using, and disposal are crazy. For the most part, those requirements are based on well founded issues for the people that work in the industry, or those that may live near the places that do the chroming, and the condition of the ground the chrome shop occupies currently, or had occupied in the past. The costs you are seeing are caused by the regulations surrounding the process, the cost of the material used in the process, the cost of the labor involved, the 30% (or more) inflation over the last 4-5 years, and the guy running the shop trying to earn a living. Like most things automotive these days, you decide what you want, and pay the price, or choose something less costly.
I was told the chinese have ship board plating facilities to plate their products enroute to the USA, then guess where the toxic waste goes ?
Sounds unlikely, considering what they do on the ground at home. Dang, that was ten years ago. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Tianjin_explosions Consider raw parts requiring cleaning and derusting, polishing then big vats of chemicals with electricity involved on a ship on open seas. Then they have to wrap and box them for sale in the ship, too? What is the incentive for doing heavy production onboard? As for your question, probably the same place they drop any dead workers.
Chrome is super cool looking,an always been high $. Some cool points made above! Parts made in m*** n chromed are lower $,then doing one off. I love the look of shiny,and back when I was a teen [1950s] in to 60s,my thing was to make it look like chrome { if it could be polished/shined and cleared to hold the polish=good! In some cases,I found at the time,some new pretty good chrome tape { There is even better tape now days} that could be used to make some parts looked chromed. ! Stainless steel,br***,copper,alum. an just steel,all shined up nice=Plus the colors can add a lot; Sure it was work to make an keep thing shiny,vs buy chrome> But in a way,it was also fun when some would tell me"Your hotrod has a lot of nice chrome" ! When it was mostly just a lot of hard polishing . Mostly,the only real chrome is headers.
In the past, chrome shops would get work from repairing collision damage to bumpers but chrome bumpers have been gone from new cars for a long time now. People in our hobby are about all there is keeping them going. I like chrome but have to be selective as to what I get plated. Generally, if it is a new part that is available in chrome or polished stainless, I will go that route instead of using old parts.
I'm glad there is a place called Tri-City Plating that has bumpers in stock and swaps out for your bent and rusty bumper, I just recently replaced my damaged front bumper that I purchased from them 13 years ago, I was amazed that the replacement was only 300 dollars more than I had paid for the first one. HRP
At least you still have a chrome shop, the last one closed in my town last year due to regulations that he could not fulfill.
Here is a recent article from the Hagerty Driver's Club magazine. It's pretty thorough. https://www.hagerty.com/media/market-trends/hagerty-insider/why-is-chrome-so-expensive/
Might try NorthStar in northern MN. IIRC, you can ship thru O'Riellies(sp?). Anyways, at the Btt50's this yr, I was talking to one of the owners(Mgrs? don't remember, but did know his tech-stuff), & he said they're going away from the hexavalent chrome. The new stuff will come online soon, but they have to re-set-up everything, as nothing is the same. But, it's worlds safer for the workers, chemicals aren't an issue, govt regulators don't much care(odd - that!), & loads cheaper. When asked if it'd also bring the price(s) back down to almost reasonable, he said they were working on that, too. We'll see... Interestingly enough, they had a few identical sample bumper parts coated w/both the old chrome & the new chrome. Seems 90%+ folks chose the new chrome as shinier, better depth, nicer "color", etc. He did say that someone that *really* knows chrome could tell, apparently it's not quite as "blue". They do mostly bumpers, but it's worth the ask to see iffen they'll help you out... FWIW. Marcus...
There are few parts I get chromed on my cars, I either buy reproduction if available or make the part out of stainless steel, I know it doesn't shine the same but the cost of chroming is so expensive. If the difference of cost between the reproduction part and the rechrome is not huge I will get the original part rechromed. One of the thing you can do is prepare the parts for the chrome, talk to your chrome guy. What I sometime do is : clean the part, have the shop dechrome it, if you do it, they won't trust you to have done a good job and they don't want to trash their chemical bath, fix/modify/polish then give them the part. The more you do, the less you pay them to do it. Another thing, if you have to weld or braze or fill pits : ask them what you can use to do it.
Reproduction parts are cheaper because they are made and plated offshore and they use hexavalent chrome. They may or may not be triple plated, so check. That's the part of the reason you can repop parts cheaper than you can have OE parts rechromed. The other part is there is more handwork (labor) involved in prepping a part to be rechromed.
Years ago I sold my sOuL at a crossroads. My *** still hurts. but,.... ....better to be homeless than Chromeless. ha ha ha
Volume too. If you have the production line set up for 500 of the same bumper the machines can be adjusted to provide a better core, junk is filtered out, the workers get into a rhythm and know the spots to concentrate on, and as you mention, the strip and fix part is not included. Let's face it, the metal is often thinner, too. That's on top of offshore reduction of cost. Compare that to the twisted, old, rusty one-off job. All is covered in the article you linked.
I am so glad I planned ahead about 6 years ago & had Chip at Tri-City Plating do 7 bumpers for me for 4 of my cars (had a perfect front for my Catalina already). Now I only have 1 more that needs done for the front of the 66 Amb***ador, I am sure it will cost quite a bit more than the other 7 did per bumper, but Chip does great work, so he will get it sometime in the near future. God Bless Bill https://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum...ar-transport-hauling-open-or-enclosed.614419/
Don't count on it being cheaper here, other than just the exchange rate. However shipping across the border and back currently is likely to negate any possible savings. About 20-25 years ago we had multiple chrome shops in Edmonton and Calgary. Now as I understand there's one in Calgary left. I believe the next nearest option for us in Canada outside of Alberta might be in Ontario.
There are lots of hard chrome platers still in both cities. There is still money to be made in that as the oil industry provides them with lots of business. For decorative chrome there are 2 shops in Calgary and at least 4 that I know of in BC.
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